Researchers suspect that the way cells use nutrients in the presence of a virus can determine disease outcome and severity.
The immune system has long been touted as the body’s primary defense against invading viruses, with the understanding that a strong immune response swiftly knocks out an infection while a weak one allows it to linger, leading to prolonged disease or even death.
Now, researchers are looking at an entirely different system—the body’s ability to use nutrients at a cellular level—to predict disease response and severity.
Tulane University immunologist Clovis Palmer studies metabolic changes resulting from viral infections. In a literature review in Nature Metabolism, Palmer analyzed a body of evidence that looked at the metabolic changes that occur in cells when viral invaders, such as HIV, hepatitis B, or SARS-CoV-2, pose a threat….